Military police to open probe into Palestinian deaths

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s military police will open an investigation into the deaths of two Palestinian teenagers.

The military’s chief prosecutor on Tuesday ordered the army to look into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the Palestinians, ages 19 and 16, when Israeli soldiers opened fire with rubber bullets to quell a riot on March 21 in the West Bank, south of Nablus near the Palestinian village of Iraq Burin.

The army on Monday had announced its own investigation of the incident.

Haaretz reported Wednesday that Nablus hospital doctors showed Israeli army doctors X-rays proving that one of the dead Palestinians had been hit with live fire. The army has not determined whether the bullets were from the Israeli military or Palestinian security forces, according to the Israeli daily.

Israeli security forces have said they fired only rubber bullets during the riot.